Three Cardiff Metropolitan University graduates have been commissioned by First Campus – a partnership between educational institutions that help raise aspirations amongst students in SE Wales – to create animations for their innovative mentor training material.

The training material has been designed for those training to become mentors as part of the First Campus Mentoring Programme and includes a range of animated clips that bring theoretical models to life.

The material will be available as an online resource for students to reference during training. It will also be available in video format, illustration and in animation clips, to appeal to students' different learning preferences.

The Mentoring Programme is a First Campus Programme that places university students, as mentors, across key partnership First Community secondary schools in South East Wales. Mentors identify pupils and help support and improve their learning. By acting as role models mentors can help raise pupils' aspirations to progress to higher education.

Helen Turnbull, Victor Hagger, and Louise Smith are all Illustration graduates from Cardiff School of Art and Design.

Animator Victor Hagger, one of the first students to graduate from the University's Illustration course in 2010, said: "I am grateful to have been given the opportunity to be involved in this project as it is a subject that is close to my heart. I was able to learn first-hand about the mentoring project from the people involved in it and it was great to collaborate with Helen and Louise. We worked well together and were able to put together a great piece of work."

The graduates were engaged via Senior Lecturer in Illustration Chris Glynn, and cohered within CSAD's Inc.Space graduate programme, which is a new initiative that enables graduates to develop sustainable art and design practices for a year, with support from in-house and external mentors.

Project producer Helen Turnbull said: "It is great to receive support from the University. Since graduating I have been in close contact with my former lecturers and have also had a piece commissioned. By keeping in touch I was able to learn about Inc.Space, which is a physical space for graduates to develop their skills. I had access to mentors and to all university facilities and was able to make the transition from a graduate to working professionally."

Masters graduate and character designer Louise Smith said: "Working on this project for First Campus Mentoring was highly enjoyable as we were immersed in the content, afforded creative freedom and received support and feedback during the process. I liked working collaboratively because of the unique directions and possibilities this enabled."

Kathryn Maddy, Project Manager for First Campus, said: "We aim to support learners to realise their potential and develop aspirations, but we are also supporting undergraduates in developing their employability skills by training and placing them as mentors and then we also utilise our graduates and their varied skills.

"The benefits of the programme are two-fold. Pre-university students are able to learn from role models but it is also creating sustainability by continually investing in those learners throughout their learning journey from school into employment."